After Dou You finished speaking, Chen Zhen responded: "Taifu Yin rest assured, he will increase the exploration of Qi State in the next stage and find out this matter as soon as possible." ”

After Chen Zhen finished speaking, Xiong Huai shook his head: "With only our spies in Qi Country, I'm afraid it will be difficult to achieve results in a short period of time." After all, Qi is a big country, and if Qi hides the flour-making workshop in a remote place, or on an island, then we won't be able to find out the truth in a year or two. ”

Jing Li asked, "I don't know what the king means." ”

Xiong Huai didn't answer Jing Li's question, but asked Chen Zhen: "Xianqing, what is the situation of the number of people who grow wheat and rice in all countries in the world?" ”

Chen Zhen replied: "Great King, the amount of wheat and rice planted in various countries now, led by our Chu State, between the Jianghuai and the Yangtze River, this year through compulsory implementation, the number of planted wheat is generally more than nearly seventy percent, and in the highest place, the amount of wheat planted is already equivalent to corn. However, because of the construction of a canal this year, the wheat planted between Jianghan and Han may not be as good as last year. ”

Xiong Huai nodded when he heard this, most of the strong men who built the canal were the people of Jianghan, which would naturally affect the cultivation of wheat and rice.

After Chen Zhen finished talking about the Chu State, he continued: "The next country should be the Qi State, because the grain of the Qi State was burned, and the pressure of famine instantly pressed on the Qi State, so under the coercion of the Qi State, the amount of wheat and rice planted in various parts of the Qi State reached an astonishing sixty percent. ”

"The second is the Yan State, because the Yan State was sacked by the Qi State, after the Qi State retired from the throne of the Yan Kingdom, there was a serious crisis within the Yan State, so in order to restore the strength of the Yan State as soon as possible, the Yan King also vigorously promoted the wheat rice, but the effect was not good, and the number of plantings was only about three or four percent."

"In addition, the Wei and Han countries and the Song Kingdom, because of their proximity to the Chu State, because the wheat and corn of the Chu State are equivalent, so, under the influence of this, the amount of wheat and rice grown in the three countries is close to more than 20% and close to 30%."

"As for Qin and Zhao, because the land is not suitable for growing wheat and rice, and the yield of wheat is low, so they did not plant too much wheat, and only planted a little bit to prepare for famine. Because Zhao was too far away from Chu State, he didn't plant much. ”

After Chen Zhen finished speaking, Xiong Huai spoke: "The situation of wheat in all countries in the world is obvious, that is, the three kingdoms of Qi and Chuyan have the most, and among them, my Chu country is the country with the most wheat in the world. Except for the wheat planted by countries other than the Qi country, even if they are all added together, I am afraid that they are not as good as the wheat and rice of my Chu country. ”

The three of them all nodded.

Xiong Huai paused and continued: "Although there is a lot of wheat and rice in my Chu country, most of them are concentrated in the Jianghuai area, and this area borders the Qi country, which provides a convenience for the Qi country to purchase the wheat and rice of my Chu country. ”

Therefore, the widow intends to test the country and raise the price of corn and, at the same time, lower the price of wheat. Because the people of Chu can use wheat as corn to deduct taxes, even if the price of wheat and rice in Chu is much lower than corn, then the people will not sell wheat at a low price, but will choose to use wheat to offset corn taxes. ”

"If Qi didn't discover how to make flour and only used wheat as emergency food, then it would be enough to just buy wheat from other countries."

"If Qi State discovers the method of making flour, it will definitely be greedy for Jianghuai's wheat and rice, and will continue to increase the price of wheat until the purchase price of Qi country's wheat rice exceeds the price of corn in Chu State, so that Chu country's wheat and rice can flow into Qi country."

Dou You thought for a while and said, "King, this strategy can be tried." ”

Seeing Dou You's approval, Xiong Huai nodded and said, "Okay, then Xianqing can deploy a plan to raise the corn to one hundred and eighty yuan, and the wheat rice to one hundred yuan." ”

"Yui!"

Then, Xiong Huai said to Chen Zhen again: "Xianqing, the action of investigating Qi Guo cannot be stopped either. ”

Chen Zhen responded: "Yes, king." ”

Seeing the order of the King of Chu, Jing Li opened his mouth and said: "King, the price of one hundred and sixty yuan is too high for the people, do we follow the example of Qi and sell grain to the people at a low price." ”

Xiong Huai thought for a while, shook his head and said: "No need, it's February now, the wheat in Jiangnan is about to ripen, it won't be long before the price of grain will fall, and it will only take about a month. ”

······

Qi country.

Ji Zi reported to the king of Qi: "Great King, the price of grain in Chu has changed again, this time the price of corn has risen to one hundred and eighty yuan, but unlike corn, the price of wheat and rice has fallen to one hundred yuan. ”

King Qi was stunned and asked puzzledly: "Ji Zi, what does Chu mean by this?" ”

"The widow remembers that since three years ago, the price of wheat and rice in Chu has always been the same as that of corn, why is it that Chu no longer maintains this measure now."

Ji Zi muttered: "King, according to the minister's opinion, there are two possibilities. ”

"One is that the wheat in the south of the Chu State is about to ripen, if the Chu State continues to maintain such a high price, with the financial resources of the Chu State, I am afraid it will be difficult to bear. Therefore, the state of Chu is gradually lowering the purchase price of wheat and rice, so as not to concentrate on the people to sell grain. ”

King Qi bowed slightly, what he had just thought of was this.

The Dongting area of Chu is an important grain-producing area of Chu State, and it is also an area where the grain of Chu State matures earlier, and the time is almost the same.

"This second possibility may also be a temptation of the Chu State to us."

"In the past few months, we have been keeping the price of wheat and corn in line with that of the Chu State, which must have aroused the suspicion of the Chu State, and the Chu State must have thought that we already knew something, so we tested it in this way."

"If we are also like Chu and raise the price of corn and lower the price of wheat and rice, it should dispel the doubts of Chu that we are only short of grain this year, and we will not compete with Chu because of lack of grain next year."

"It's just that in this way, because of the tax system of the Chu State, then the wheat of Jianghuai will be used by the people and nobles of the Chu State to pay taxes, and the wheat will not be smuggled to the Qi State."

King Qi's eyes sank.

In order to prevent the news of the stone mill from leaking out, Qi Guo directly suspended all the stone mills, just to avoid the current situation.

Although the State of Qi can hide from other countries, it is not impossible to be suspicious and tempted in the face of the State of Chu, a country that discovered the method of flour making before the State of Qi.

At this moment, King Qi was difficult to confirm in his heart, and after pondering for a while, he asked: "Ji Zi, I don't know what kind of purpose Qing thinks the purpose of the Chu State is?" ”

Ji Zi said with a solemn face: "The king, the minister's opinion, the first possibility is very high, but the second possibility cannot be ruled out. ”

King Qi saw that Ji Zi could not guarantee it, so he fell silent.

After a while, King Qi asked again: "Ji Zi, I don't know how long the stone mill can make flour, how long can it hide from other countries?" ”

How long can you hide it?

Thinking of the situation of the stone mill, Ji Zi shook his head: "King, this matter is difficult to hide, the stone mill is not only owned by our Qi state, but also has a small amount of circulation in the four kingdoms of Song, Chu, Yue and Wei. It's just that the Song and Wei dynasties did not advocate making flour, so it was not discovered in the first place. ”

King Qi nodded, because other countries do not promote flour, so there is a high probability that the people of other countries have not even heard of flour, let alone that flour is made of wheat and rice.

Since we didn't even know about flour, we naturally didn't dig out other uses of stone mills.

It's just that when the king of Qi thought that a year ago, the people of Qi used stone mills to make flour, so he sighed: "Few people know, a hundred birds in hand is not as good as a bird in the forest." Even the ghosts and gods only know what will happen in a year, where do the widows dare to look forward to the coming year! ”

"Therefore, please ask Ji Zi to contact the nobles and merchants of various countries in the Jianghuai area, and say that the widow is willing to collect grain at a high price, and the price of wheat and rice is equal to that of corn, no, not only wheat and rice, but also soybean beans."

Ji Ziying said: "Only." ”